The present invention relates to an output control method for a laser system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an output control method for a laser system comprising a laser oscillator and a laser amplifier, which enables the output of the laser system to be stably controlled over a wide range.
The output of an MOPA (Master Oscillator-Power Amplifier) laser system, which comprises a laser oscillator and a multiplicity of laser amplifiers, has heretofore been controlled by a method in which the laser gain is varied by controlling the excitation energy for the laser medium of each of the oscillator and amplifiers. This conventional method suffers, however, from the problem that oscillation and amplification are unstable in a state where the excitation energy is small, and since the energy supplied to the medium changes, the thermal behavior of the medium becomes unstable. In addition, when the laser system employs as an excitation energy switching power supply a power supply constructed exclusively of solid-state components including a semiconductor device, e.g., a thyristor, and a magnetic pulse compressor circuit, the adjustable voltage range is so narrow that it is difficult to control the output energy delicately.